Well, at almost 12 years old, Emersyn would like her own room. Emersyn and Eleri have shared a room since Elle was three months old. I guess it is time for her to have a little space.
Here is the very small room they shared at #7 Seabird Lane in Discovery Bay. It was so small I couldn’t step back to take a photo of the entire room. Eleri’s changing table is an old shoe cabinet – smaller than a dresser to fit in the room.
This was their room in our first apartment at Yanlord. This room was much bigger than their Hong Kong room. The same old, cheap Ikea rug filled the entire floor space in the Hong Kong room, above. Here at the Yanlord room, the rug looks very small.
This room was big enough to have a reading corner with bigger bookshelves.
The current room they have shared for the past four years after our Yanlord eviction/move. The mosquito nets made it back up when we moved. The nets are for show and decoration only. In Hong Kong, we actually needed the nets to keep the mosquitos off the girls at night. Eleri still uses the shoe cabinet as her dresser filled with her shirts and pants. Emersyn hasn’t been sleeping in the room since August. Eleri’s “zoo” moved over to the spare bed.
Emersyn picked out new bedding from Pottery Barn Teen (yes, not cheap). Jim bought it back with him from California during his trip at CNY. On Saturday, we went to the B&Q (hardware store) for Emersyn to pick a new paint color. She found a perfect color to match her new bedding.
Eleri was supervising, as usual. Emersyn was reading a book in the living room, as usual.
Of course, after we painted the wall, I thought I should have taken a BEFORE photo of the guest room. I should have taken photos when the house was all picked-up and ready for John and Vanessa’s visit. When the wall was red, it was the perfect match to the comforter on the bed. The comforter that currently has no home. It is more of a guest comforter than an everyday comforter…but, when space is a premium, it might just show up on our bed in the master bedroom.
Here was the REAL reason the room was Emersyn’s “sleeping room” for six months. There was a shuffle that needed to happen for this to be Emersyn’s room. The small office room had a desk for Jim, a desk for Eleri (she doesn’t use it, but piles her “making” creations on it) and the piano/keyboard. Emersyn and I shared the main office off the living room. Jim needs to move into Emersyn’s desk in the main office as the desk is too big to get through the doors. Jim’s desk was moved into Emersyn’s room as her new desk. The cabinet needed to move from Emersyn’s room into the small office. But, to get the cabinet in the small office, the mirror glass cabinet in the small office had to be moved to a different wall. I took everything out of both cabinet and piled it out of the way (the best I could). We did all the moving of furniture on a Thursday night while Emersyn was at her dive class. She came home to her new room. The “stuff” all needed to be put away – my job!!
The small office AFTER the desk shuffle. Everything in this room got a shuffle also. Eleri’s desk and the piano changed spaces. The mirror glass cabinet was moved off the front wall. A lot of work to give one girl her own room, but I guess she is worth it!!
The main office off the living room. The glass doors make an excellent place to display art work. It is very nice to have the office right off the main living space…except the “piles” that acquire on my desk!
Jim’s new desk space. He started out in the office with me. When we had Emersyn’s cabinet made, it was too big to fit down the hallway. Jim moved out and Emmy moved in. I am going to miss sharing my office with Emmy.
My desk space. Notice, I acquired a new-relocated lamp on my desk!
The final results – Emersyn’s room. Not a bad first room! She also acquired some of the best art work in the apartment. She has an original Larry Miller over her desk and an original Gerald Williams over the chair proving she has good taste in art.
She did get the room with the best views in the house. After the winter, the window seat pads will be placed back into the window. The poor design of the windows sticking out in the cold only results in water pooling in the window base. All of our windows like this one have towels to soak up the water.
On Sunday, Emersyn had three friends over to work on a school project. They worked in her new room with many giggles and laughter coming from the room. The girls stayed all afternoon working on the project. It was fun to have them over. Since we don’t live in Jinqiao, we are not the first choice for a homework base. It was nice Emmy had her own space to share with her friends.
Next, we need to find a way to make Eleri’s room feel more special – not the leftover room, but her room. It will probably require more moving of “Stuff”…by me!